I am thinking of purchasing an ipad and would like some input about its worth as a resource for actual study (i.e. Khan Academy, Course Saver, any app that may help teach pre-med material, etc.)
Would it be worth my time and money to invest in an ipad? Would this benefit me in the long run. What are your opinions? What have been some of the responses that some of you guys have heard regarding the use of a ipad for school and study?
I love mine, the selling point for me was being able to load textbooks onto it. Having them with me without the actual mass of them in my bag is huge. Also being able to search textbooks is awesome and a big timesaver when you need to do it. The only caveat in this regard is that there are still a lot of textbooks (at least in my undergrad experience thus far) you can’t get digital versions of yet. As far as MCAT study goes, Kaplan does have a dedicated app that let me put all my course materials on there so I didn’t have to carry those books around. There are lots and lots of pre-med apps in the appstore, I only played with a few of them…some where helpful while others were close enough to useless.
Another thing I like about my iPad is the Dropbox app and a number of other apps that work with it. I have all my powerpoints, syllabi, and other documents from all of my classes in there, so I can access them from my laptop, my work computer, my desktop at home, my iPhone, or my iPad. Changes I make on one device sync to all of the others in real time. I recently picked up a stylus so that I could do drawing-style notes and somewhat eliminate the need to carry notebooks. I can type much faster than I write, and I’ve got a great headstart on my “doctor handwriting” so I do most of my note taking on my laptop, but for things like O Chem and Physics that’s not the most useful.
I’ve heard that they come in very handy in medical school, lots of the schools apparently have their books and/or other materials readily designed for tablets. I’ve even read about at least one school that issues you an iPad when you start (obviously its included in the cost of tuition).
All in all I highly recommend it, I actually upgraded from my iPad 1 to an iPad 3 a couple months back for the higher resolution and improved (faster) hardware. Outside of school functionality, I have nearly 100 novels on the thing, I can manage my half dozen email accounts, get on the web, play games, etc. They certainly are expensive, but it’s well worth it if you can afford it.
Just as an aside, some schools don’t recommend the iPad as a primary notetaking device. I’m not sure what you’d be planning to use it for, but it’s something to think about.
Here are thoughts from Albert Einstein SOM, for example.
http://www.einstein.yu.edu/education/md-program/ ed…
It is NOT worth the money.
I have one, and I love it. I used it extensively my last year of undergrad. However, it is limited in usefulness, particularly because of it’s TOTAL INABILITY to play Flash video. This may not seem a major issue, but I assure you that many of the best sites with helpful or even necessary video/applications use Flash. Particularly organic chemistry modules and review sites for anatomy/physiology.
I strongly recommend you spend the money on a laptop if you want to take notes in class. You can get a decent one for the cost of an iPad that will do everything you need for school, has an actual keyboard and lets you install everything you can think of. The limitations of the App store for the iPad raise costs significantly.
My iPad was a gift, and for the ability to record lectures (which my very old laptop could not do) it was invaluable. But every laptop or netbook these days comes with a mic and even a camera. Laptops are for work, iPads are expensive toys. 
PS: Lots of people don’t know the difference between a laptop and a netbook - netbooks are very small, and have a less than full size keyboard. I have one and suggest you see one in person before you decide a 90% keyboard is big enough. Even my petite hands make lots and lots of typos using those smaller keys. 
I have the iPad with a Zagg case/keyboard, and I love it. Taking notes on it has been easy; you just have to find the app that works best for you. The inability to play Flash hasn’t affected me so far. I’m taking Gen Chem I right now and downloaded the Khan Academy app; it’s been a lot of help.
I haven’t used it in student mode yet, but I use my ipad in clinical practice every day and it’s a great all around tool. I have a variety of medical books/apps as well as regular literature. The decrease in weight for those books alone make it worth it for me. I hope that I’ll be able to get some of my textbooks on the ipad by the time I start school. I also have the zagg case/kbd and I can type with relative ease and I have fairly large hands. I have a good macbook pro that I don’t take to work because of the bulk.
my med school requires all of us to have iPads, so we get the new one for “free” (have to return it after we graduate). the previous year students use them for notes (using app notability), lectures, CBL, etc. they’re even talking about being able to take tests on them. but we are also required to have laptops so we won’t be using an iPad exclusively.
It’s so funny to me that you have to return it. In 4 years. When it’s obsolete. LOL
I just got the new iPad to communicate better with my husband when he’s overseas (Facetime–he got one too). So far, I love it. LOVE it. My classmates used theirs during lecture all the time, but I didn’t get mine until after the semester was over.
I think it’s usefulness will depend on what kind of reader and learner you are. Honestly, I prefer paper… but I’m trying to train myself away from that. I think we’re going in a certain direction, and I want to make sure I’m on that train. I already feel antiquated enough without being behind on technology, too!
For now, though, I’d say that Pixie hit it on the nose. It’s a toy for me (and my five year old!) I wouldn’t use it for work. But others do, and have great success in doing so… chalk it up to personal preference or just my lack of knowledge regarding how to get the most out of the tool, but there you have it!
- carrieliz Said:
chalk it up to personal preference or just my lack of knowledge regarding how to get the most out of the tool, but there you have it!
Personal preference does come into play, but not lack of knowledge. I've spent tons of money on different note-taking apps, and some help for certain classes, but none work across the board. More knowledge/more apps never helped make it more than a toy for me.
I found that using a real computer with a combination of Dropbox and Evernote (both wonderful FREE software using cloud tech) served me much better than all the apps I played with in school.
So I broke down and bought one, lol!
It actually has not been that bad, I got one of those cool tablet pens and having been downloading some of the free apps pertaining to notes, word documents, and Khan Academy! Yes, they have plenty of videos and lectures to view for the life long learner.
Of course this is all well and good but I have not even started my summer courses yet. We’ll see how I fair come August. One added benefit that is highly valuable for me is that now I don’t have to lug around multiple heavy books, a lab top, and loads of blank paper. My back will thank me in the long run 
I’ll keep you guys posted.
Since you took the leap, here are the best apps for different purposes.
PenUltimate - great for organic and biochem, because nothing else works as awesome for drawing elaborate molecules and TCA cycle.
SoundNote - best app for recording lectures (SIT IN FRONT ROW), but you have to type notes and if you type too fast it picks it up really well. But it’s real advantage is that you can tap where a typed note is (ie: “Babble about pathways”) and listen to what was recorded at that point in time. Very helpful for courses with fast talking professors who don’t supply good slides.
Noteshelf - Allows both typing and stylus-handwriting, with multiple “paper types” - advantage is that you can create Cornell notes in it. Helpful for classes that are not drawing heavy, but where you want to do drawings, and great for courses where the Cornell style is a benefit.
Noterize - Allows you to import PDFs (great if your teacher provides them PRIOR to class) and lets you both type and stylus-write on the PDFs, as well as insert pages to make further notes.
Disapointing Apps - Notes Plus, Note Taker HD, Live Notes, Course Notes, inClass, Notability. All of these apps had some nice features, but either were prone to crashing (may be improved, but not worth the risk!) or had serious flaws that made them a waste of time.
Now, go get Dropbox and Evernote (+Evernote Peek and Evernote Skitch) because they are free and awesome.
GoodReader, iAnnotate PDF, Instapaper and of course {the super nerdy but cool} Table of Elements apps are not free, but can be essential for studying.
MentalCase is a great flashcard app, but is for a flashcard power user. You have to love flash cards to like that app. Evernote’s Peek is way better for normal people.
- PixieSanders Said:
Since you took the leap, here are the best apps for different purposes.
This is really good stuff! Thank you very much. I've downloaded a couple of these apps so far and I'm really impressed. We'll see how this semester goes, LoL!
Pixie, Thanks for listing those aps. Great Post! I just bought one for Fall classes. All in all it cuts down significantly on the weight of my pack. That alone is a major selling point. Everything else is just icing.
Glad to help. Figure it’s important to create a reliable source of app recommendations, as OPM’ers don’t have a lot to throw away.
Nice list, thank you Pixie!!
Hey all - thanks for this useful thread! My lovely boyfriend gave me an iPad for my birthday, which I’ve been putting to good use these first few weeks of my post bacc program.
I had a specific question for the tech savvy on here - does anyone know of an app that will let you import a Google doc to annotate with drawings/etc? I have been typing up my class notes in Google docs on my iMac, but would like to use the tablet functionality of my iPad to re-draw my various diagrams/etc into the document… Any suggestions?
Your help greatly appreciated as always!